Analyze effect of tax changes
May 25, 2005
Would average Texans say yes to a tax proposal that would lower taxes for the wealthy and raise them for everyone else?
Written by Editorial, San Antonio Express-News
Would average Texans say yes to a tax proposal that would lower taxes for the wealthy and raise them for everyone else?
Not if they knew it was happening.
Earlier in May, analysis of a state Senate effort to restructure the tax system showed that the only beneficiaries were those with incomes above $140,000. The next day, that plan was dead.
Now, a House-Senate conference committee is hammering out a new version of House Bill 3, a tax restructuring plan.
But, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, no legislature rule requires that the committee see an analysis of how the proposed legislation would affect businesses and families at different income levels.
That they might even think of passing legislation without such information is shocking.
The committee is dealing with ways to lower property taxes by $5.5 billion and make up the difference by a combination of increases in the sales tax, cigarette tax, perhaps the alcohol tax and in revised taxes on businesses.
Such a massive shift is no minor undertaking, and it has potentially grave implications for many.
Texans should let their legislative leaders know that making such changes without an equity analysis is not acceptable.
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